Crystal Ridge III
January 1, 2018
Mountain
height: 2630 m
Elevation gain: 680 m
Roundtrip
time: 5:50
Snowshoeing
with Mark.
A few
unforeseen events would conspire to render my Xth birthday mountain
trip a little less ambitious than we had originally planned. Hoping to attempt
one of the bigger objectives on the Wapta Icefield, we booked the Bow Hut for
December 28-29. However, an unusually long and vicious cold snap thwarted that
plan. Mark and I have no problem with cold temperatures (I did three separate
mountain trips during that same cold spell), but we do have issues with
ascending big mountains in whiteouts and that’s exactly what we would have got
had we followed through with the initial plan.
Unfortunately,
while waiting for the cold snap to end and the Sun to appear I suffered a minor
back injury that I feared would put an end to any attempt of any mountain.
January 1, 2018 turned out to be our last potential day to do a trip and was
fortuitously the first day of better weather. I felt my back had healed
sufficiently to at least try something short and so we set off to repeat one of
my favourite trips near
the Wapta Icefield – Crystal Ridge (I, II and Bob Spirko’s
trip) – the goal being to check out the summits to the north.
The
ascent to the col went very well, the snow being surprisingly supportive for
early January. Of course, the views over to Crowfoot Mountain and other peaks
around Bow Lake were a constant source of “WOW”!
From the
col we turned north and ascended the first highpoint with ease. The view was
fantastic but it became abundantly clear that the next highpoint would offer an
even better view. That summit turned out of be the highlight of the day for
several reasons, surprisingly the least of which was the awesome view and the
exhilarating drop down the east side.
Mark
wasn’t about to let me turn X years old without a little fanfare. While he led
most of the ascent up the second peak, at one point he stopped climbing that he
needed to attach his glasses case to my backpack because they were falling off
his head. I thought nothing of it and continued up the mountain. All of a sudden the
awe-inspiring sounds of Rush’s Xanadu are emanating from my backpack
– AWESOME!!! Mark had actually attached a small speaker to my backpack and was
playing the song from his phone (gotta’ love technology!). And so it was with a
huge smile on my face (and oncoming arthritis in my knees) and some extremely
serendipitous timing that I took the last few steps to the summit while Geddy
Lee belted out the lyrics:
“I scaled the
frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and man alone
Searching for the lost, Xanadu”
(side note: if
you are not a Rush fan:
a) You should be!
b) Check out this
video of a reaction to YYZ
c) Buy Moving Pictures (1981) and listen to it 5 times in a
row with headphones, while reading the lyrics {Neil Peart is without question
one of the finest lyricists of our time (and drummer)}.
d) Grab your Canadian flag, sing our wonderful national
anthem and remind yourself what makes Canada great: ice hockey, Tim Horton’s,
saying “sorry”, and RUSH!
Back to the trip……
As alluded to, the summit view was enthralling to say the
least: the plethora of spectacular peaks of the Wapta Icefield to the west, Cirque and Bow peaks and perhaps the highlight of
the view – the jagged and unique profile of Dolomite Peak.
After admiring the magnificent view, Mark brought out the
second surprise of the day – a “Jägerbomb” for each of us – a deliciously
contradictory combination of Red Bull and Jägermeister. The wonderful
concoction may make me reconsider my choice of liquid for my “summer, soda pop” tradition!
On descent (the playlist had now moved onto the album Moving Pictures and possibly my all-time
favourite Rush song, The
Camera Eye) the awesome music was suddenly interrupted by the awesome roar
of two fighter planes whizzing by us at supersonic speeds –
now that’s something, in over a thousand trips to the mountains, I’ve never
witnessed – totally cool!
Several minutes later we also we ran into a pair of
skiers, traversing the entire ridge, from south to north. One introduced
himself as Marcus and told us he had captured a few photos of us ascending the
second summit. He graciously offered to send those photos to us. He and his
partner then continued their traverse. I would later find out that Marcus was
Marcus Baranow of Confessions of a Ski Bum fame.
We then finished a wonderfully easy descent. Although the
weather to the north was breaking down it did create some cool lighting.
An outstanding day! Thanks Bro for making it a super
special trip for me. Glad to join you in the post X phase of life!
P.S. If you remember your grade 12 math and want to know the
mystery age, solve for X:
99 sinX tanX = 2X - 41.91
secX
Out into the open
The pristine slopes of Crystal Ridge
Peaks of the Wapta start to make their appearances
Gaining the ridge, with our two objectives dead ahead
Heading up to the first summit. Watermelon Peak (distant centre), OXO (right of centre) and Dolomite Peak (right) are constant companions
White Pyramid (centre) and Mount Chephren (right)
The north end of Crowfoot, Collie (distant left), Rhondda South (centre) and Portal Peak
Continuing the ascent
Nice to climb anything with Dolomite Peak so close!
The first summit within reach
Mark rests against a block of quartzite
It's GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly) time - I wonder if they have a GQ for geriatric snowshoers??
At the first summit looking towards the second (right). Cirque Peak at the left
Enjoying the view to the west
Mark insisted I do the arms in the air pose (probably just to see if I could still lift my arms up in my aged condition)
Mark leads the way to the second summit
Heading up to the second summit
Now that he has affixed the speaker to my backpack, Mark comes up behind me
Approaching the summit while enjoying Rush's Xanadu
Mark does the same
Looking over the edge but not getting too close - it's a straight drop down
Mark at the summit
Mark makes the Jägerbombs
Summit toast
The continuation of the ridge to the north looks very inviting
Marcus Baranow captures a photo of our summits (we are barely discernible at the summit in the foreground right)
and several other highpoints along the ridge (photo by Marcus Baranow)
Same as above, but with Cirque Peak towering over us (photo by Marcus Baranow)
Looking down the precipitous east face
Mark at the summit. Observation Subpeak can just be seen at the right (I, II)
Heading down
Same as above for Marcus' viewpoint (photo by Marcus Baranow)
Marcus gets a shot of us getting of shot of each other! (photo by Marcus Baranow)
The ridge to the north, Observation Subpeak and Observation Peak
A close-up of Mount Collie on the Wapta Icefield - what a beautiful mountain!
Mark gets a shot of the fighter jets
There they are!
You can now see Marcus and his partner at the col and the other summit of Crystal behind
If I have to put my arms in the air so does the even older guy!
Beautiful lighting as we bask in the Sun, while it turns grey to the north
Mark atop a huge wall of snow
Heading to the other summit (a very similar photo to one that Bob Spirko shared with me)
Mark approaches the third summit of the day
I get to the top first
Mark at the top
Home time
The End
